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roberts wrote:
Angry ... wrong as ever it was the Scrutiny committee that recommended a Health Csar. Coun Ayre and the Executive refused this suggestion. Why will take up plummet? Even if the card is only used once a year for residents first weekend then that means resident first weekend costs a £1. Last year I used the residents first weekend to visit Elvington air Museum. usually costs £7 I would have happily still paid £1 and saved £6 as a resident benefit. I think if anything take up will increase. How many people know that you can use your York card for free entry to Castle and York Museum? how many people take part in teh residents weekend? All the hype generated will increase take up. Also museum visits etc will increase. Most People now just take their library card and dont pay attention. When they are asked to pay £1 a year they will rightly ask why and will a) learn a lot more about what they can use it for and b) human nature dictates once they've paid they're pound they'll make sure they see the benefit!

Wow, your talents are wasted if you are a Councillor - you should be heading up a retail branch of a top 500 company. Are you really trying to convince me and others who read this that the take up of a card which is currently free will increase when you introduce charges, with no additional benefits? Are you really saying that those who currently apply for the card cannot be bothered to read the information leaflet that comes with it, but if you charge they will? Please share your sales knowledge with us because I'm sure there would be many struggling retailers out their who would like the secret to your success!"

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£2 fee plan for YorkCard

CASH-STRAPPED council bosses are set to ask York residents to pay for a card giving them free entry to museums.

Proposals by City of York Council will see an end to free YorkCards, which also provide discounts on swimming and sports activities, in a
move the authority says could raise £100,000 over two years.

Residents would be asked to choose between receiving a free library card or paying a £2 “administration fee” for a YorkCard, also including library services, which would be valid until February
2013.

Current YorkCards are free and have no expiry date, but the council says it must plug a £165,000 library income shortfall and update its library-user database for the first time since 2004.

Officers have recommended introducing the system, which would include free cards for those aged 17 and under, and the council’s executive member for leisure, culture and social inclusion, Coun
Nigel Ayre, will make a decision next week.

“YorkCard gives free entry to the Yorkshire Museum and Castle Museum, which usually costs £7 and £8 respectively, so provides savings well above the proposed charge,” said Coun Ayre.

“Charging for something which was once free may not be a popular move, but compared with the impact of having to make savings elsewhere, it is a preferable option.”

He said proceeds from library services such as CD and DVD loans had dropped by 75 per cent in the last five years, and updating the database would allow “a more 21st century service”, including
initiatives like email reminders for overdue books.

Coun Sonja Crisp, the Labour group’s leisure spokesperson, said: “The council is in a huge mess financially and one of the motivations of the proposed
charge is to plug a £165,000 budget gap. But the Liberal Democrats [who control the council] are only tinkering if they agree this.”